Fabric treating and feeding apparatus



March 19, 1957 w. c. GILFILLAN 2,785,890

FABRIC TREATING AND FEEDING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 8. 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet l W. C. GlLFlLLAN FABRIC TREATING AND FEEDING APPARATUS March 19, 1957 Filed Sept. 8. 1954 2 SheetsSheet 2 United States Patent C 2,785,890 FABRIC TREATING AND FEEDING APPARATUS William C. Gilfillan, Willow Grove, Pa., assignor to H. W. Butterworth and Sons Company, Bethayre, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application September 8, 1954, Serial No. 454,790 11 Claims. (Cl. 271-22) or web of material under substantially uniform tension throughout the length under treatment, while it is subjected to various operations such as washing, dyeing, bleaching or drying.

It is well recognized in connection with treatment of fabrics that variations in tension are highly undesirable, both because of the possibility of direct damage to the fabrics created by the stress and because of the fact that variations in stress. cause fluctuations in the effectiveness of the treatment, so that the treatment is in part inelfectual and in any case unreliable from the standpoint of uniformity.

Many suggestions have been made for solving this problem. For example, material has been fed into the treating apparatus, such as a tank, .by driven feed rolls, thence in a succession of loops over upper and lower idler rolls through the treating tank and thence through a pair of nip or discharge rolls which are positively driven at a rate controlled by the tension in the strip, and in turn control the rate of the feed rolls. Such a system leaves agreat deal to be. desired, both from the standpoint of uniformity of tension and from the standpoint of apparatus complications. Not only does this system create complications because of the delicate control equipment required, but it also fails to achieve the uniformity that is so desirable, for no system applied solely to the feed and discharge ends for control can achieve uniformity of tension throughout the succession of loops between rollers or pulleys. When, on the other hand, an effort is made to drive the various rolls or pulleys over which the material is looped by applying uniform positive driving force to these members, the result has involved inevitably undesirable stretching or slackness in the material.

An object of the present invention has been to solve these problems by applying a driving force to insure steady feed of the material through the apparatus at a uniform tension throughout.

A further object has been to apply uniform torque in the drive of the fabric through rollers or pulleys uniformly driven from a common source of power through individual magnetic clutches.

A still further object has been to effect a drive of this kind through coupled driving magnets operating through 2 ing tank in which rope-like material is treated in a suecession of loops or passes through a bath and over idler and feeding pulleys,

Figure 2 is a cross-section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a detailed cross-section on the line 33 of Figure '1,

Figure 4 is a cross-section on the line 4-4 of Figure 3,

Figures 5 and 6 are detailed elevational views of the driven members and driving rotors, respectively.

Referring now to the drawing by reference numerals, the apparatus comprises a tank or compartment 10 having an inlet connection 11 and a discharge connection 12 for liquid such as the washing, bleaching or dyeing liquid with which the fabric material is to be treated. The rope-like material may be guided through an eyelet 13 onto a succession of rotatable fabric supports in the form of pulleys over which it is passed in a succession of loops through the treating bath 14, for ultimate discharge over the last pulley and through the eyelet 15 at the left end of Figure 1.

In the form of the invention illustrated, the upper pulleys are driven through individual connections insuring that constant torque is applied to the drive, and the lower pulleys 17 are idler pulleys carried upon shaft 18. The rope or other fabric pursues a zig-zag course overthese upper and lower pulleys.

The upper pulleys 16, although driven from a common shaft 19 through a driving connection 20, are capable of rotating at different speeds to accommodate for such shrinkage or stretching as may occur in the fabric material incident to its treatment, and to maintain a uniform tension in every run or flight of the rope between pulleys 16 and -17. To this end,.the shaft 19 drives each of the individual pulleys through its own separate magnetic coupling or clutch.

Each individual pulley 16, as illustrated in Figures 3, 4 and 5, may comprise a pair of opposed frusto-conical sheet metal discs 21 having inwardly extending annular flanges 22 secured together in face to face abutting relationship. A number of driving studs 23 are secured to each pulley, and these are in turn secured by nuts 24 to ears 25 formed on the outer circumferences of the hubs 26 of the pulleys. These hubs are secured by keys 27 and set screws 28 to a bushing 29 which permits rotation of shaft 19 freely within the hubs of the pulleys. The pulleys are retained in properly spaced relation longitudinally of shaft 19 by locating collars 30 on one side, and by their respective driving rotors on the other.

A driving rotor 31 is coupled in independent driving relationship to each individual pulley 16 of the upper series rotatably mounted on shaft 19, and secured for rotation by shaft 19 through set screws 32. An annular sleeve 33. may be mounted within the inner circum ference of rotor 31 and keyed to the hub of the rotor v Each of the rotors 31 carries a number of magnets 35 imbedded in position opposite a number of similar magbe of any suitable type and number, I have here illustrated the use of six permanent magnets of the horseshoe typein each driving rotor with a complemental arrangement in the pulley hubs. The rotors and hubs are formed of nonmagnetic material, which may desirably be a synthetic resin. Spacer means in the form of shims 37 are mounted between the adjacent ends of sleeves 29 and 33 to position the hubv 26 in axially spaced relation from rotor 31 to. maintain an air gap of desiredwidth between the mag Patented Mar. 19, 1957 netically coupled rotor 31 and hub pulley 26. The width of this air gap, and the consequent slippage in the magnetic driving connection, may be very simply adjusted by varying the number of shims in spacer 3.7.

In-operation, after the rope or other-length of fabric is threaded through the apparatus in zig-zag loopsas indicated, power is applied to shaft'19 through pulley 20 to rotate each individual driving rotor 31 with uniform driving force and speed. These rotors 31, operating through the magnets 35 and 36, likewise rotateeachindividual pulley 16 at a uniform rate, so long as the tension is equal throughout the various loops of the fabric under treatment, as the driving is accomplished through uniform torque, with drive slippage depending entirely on feed resistance. Now, if the material stretches because of the treatment this will instantly relieve the tension and reduce magnetic drive slippage, thereby increasing the pulleyspeed to take up'the slack, while if it shrinks, the magnetic slippage will be increased to relieve the tension, so that no undue strain will be placed on the material. It will be evident that the apparatus is instantaneously self-compensating at every driving pulley, so that the material will be maintained under uniform tension regardless of any tendency to shrink or stretch which may be caused by the treatment. If the operator desires to adjust the degree of the uniform tension imposed, he has only to increase the air gaps in the magnetic couplings by replacing spacers 37 with thicker spacers.

While the invention has been described in relation to a detailed embodiment, it will be evident to'thos'e skilled in the art that it may be modified or refined in various ways. I therefore wish it to be understood that the in vention is not to be limited in interpretation except by the scope and spirit of the following claims.

I claim: V

1. In an apparatus for feedingcontinuous lengths of fabric materials through container apparatus for'treating' the same, means for feeding the material through said coritainer apparatus at a substantially uniform rate and under substantially uniform tension comprising rotary feed means comprising alternating upper and lower sets of rotatable fabric supports over which the fabric is fed in 2. In an apparatus forfeeding continuous lengths of fabric materials through container apparatus for treatingthe same, means for feeding the material through said container apparatus at a substantially uniform rate" and under substantially uniform tension comprising rotary, feed means comprising alternating upper and lower sets 'of rotatable fabric supports over which the" fabric is fed 7 in a succession of loops, magnets carried byflcertai'n off rope-like material through container apparatus for treat-" carrying said magnets, magnets carried by said driving rotors spaced from said first-mentioned magnets but'in magnetic driving relation therewith, and spacermeans'for controlling the distance by which the driving rotor magnets are spaced from said first-mentioned magnets;

3. In anapparatus for feeding continuous lengths of fabric materials through container apparatus for treating 1 the same, means for'feeding the materialthrough said container-apparatus at a substantially uniform rateand.

'under substantially uniform tension comprising rotary feed means comprising alternating upper and lower sets of rotatable fabric supports over which the fabric is fed in a succession of loops, magnets carried by certain of i tion to said first-mentioned magnets, and spacer means for controlling the longitudinaldistance between said magnet-carrying fabric supports and said driving rotors.

4. In an apparatus for feedingcontinuous lengths of fabric materials through container apparatus for treating the same, means for feeding the material through said container apparatus at a substantially uniform rate and under substantially uniform tension comprising rotary feed means comprising alternating upper and lower sets of rotatable fabric supports over; which the fabric isffed in a succession of loops, magnets carriedrby the rotatable fabric supports of one of said sets, driving rotors rotatably mounted in proximity to said rotatable fabric supports carrying said magnets, and magnets carried by said driving rotors spaced from said first-mentioned magnets, but in magnetic driving. relation therewith.

5. In an apparatus for feeding continuous lengths of fabric materials through container apparatus for. treating of rotatable fabric supports over which thefabric-isfed ina succession of loops, magnets carried by the rotatable fabric supports of the upper set, driving rotors rotatably mounted in proximity to said rotatable fabric supports carrying said magnets, and.magnets carried by said driving rotors spaced from said firstrmentioned magnets, but in magnetic drivingrela tion therewith.

6. Inan apparatus for feeding continuous lengths of rope-like material through container apparatus for treating the same, means for feeding the material through said container apparatus at a substantially uniform rate andunder substantially uniform tensioncomprising pulleys arranged in alternating upper and lower sets over which the fabric 'is fed in a succession of loops, magnets carried by certain of said pulleys, driving rotors rotatably' mounted in proximity to said pulleys carrying said magnets, and magnets carried by said driving rotors spaced from said first-mentioned magnets, but in magnetic driving relation therewith.

7. In ,an apparatus for feeding continuous lengths of fabric materials through container, apparatus for treating, the'sa'me, means for feeding the material through said container apparatus at a substantially uniform rate and under substantially uniform tension comprising rotary feed means-comprising alternating upper and lower sets of rotatable fabric supports over which'the fabric is fed in a succession of loops, magnets carried by certain of said rotatable fabric supports, driving rotors rotatably mounted inproximity to said rotatablefabric supportscarrying said magnets, magnets carried by said driving rotors spaced from said first-mentioned magnets but in magnetic driving relation therewith, and' means for driv-' ing said driving rotors uniformly from a common source of 'p'ower. r

'8. In an apparatus forfeeding' continuousllengthsof ingthe' same, means for feeding the material through said container apparatus at a substantially. uniformfrate' and under substantially uniform tension comprising'pulleys. arranged in alternating upper and lower setsjover which 'the fabric is fed in a succession" of loops, a driven suntan which the pulleys of one of said sets are mounted for relative rotation, driving rotors "secured to said shaft in spaced longitudinal relation to'saidpulleys, and magnets; carried bysa id pulleys andflsaid rotors" in spaced magnetic'driving relation to each other.

9.- In an apparatus for feeding continuous lengths of rope-like material through container apparatus for treating' the same, means for feedingjthe material through saidfcontainer apparatus at a substantially uniform' rate and 7 under substantially uniform tension comprising pulleys arranged in alternating upper and lower sets over which the fabric is fed in a succession of loops, a driven shaft on which the pulleys of one of said sets are mounted for relative rotation, driving rotors secured to said shaft in spaced longitudinal relation to said pulleys, magnets carried by said pulleys and said rotors in spaced magnetic driving relation to each other, and spacer means for controlling the spacing of said driving magnets on said pulleys and said rotors from each other.

10. In an apparatus for feeding continuous lengths of rope-like material through container apparatus for treating the same, means for feeding the material through said container apparatus at a substantially uniform rate and under substantially uniform tension comprising pulleys arranged in alternating upper and lower sets over which the fabric is fed in a succession of loops, a driven shaft on which the pulleys of one of said sets are mounted for relative rotation, driving rotors secured to said shaft in spaced longitudinal relation to said pulleys, magnets carried by said pulleys and said rotors in spaced magnetic driving relation to each other, and spacer means for controlling the spacing of said driving rotors from said pulleys on said shaft.

11. In an apparatus for feeding continuous lengths of rope-like material through container apparatus for treating the same, means for feeding the material through said container apparatus at a substantially uniform rate and under substantially uniform tension comprising pulleys arranged in alternating upper and lower sets over which the fabric is fed in a succession of loops, a driven shaft on which the pulleys of one of said sets are mounted for relative rotation, driving rotors secured to said shaft in spaced longitudinal relation to said pulleys, magnets carried by said pulleys and said rotors in spaced magnetic driving relation to each other, and shims inserted between said driving rotors and pulleys on said shaft to control the spacing therebetween.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,701,717 Morrill Feb. 8, 1955 

